The Language Game - How Improvisation Created Language and Changed the World
New book and articles by Morten H. Christiansen and Nick Chater
Forget the language instinct—this is the story of how we make up language as we go
Language is perhaps humanity’s most astonishing capacity—and one that remains poorly understood. In The Language Game, cognitive scientists Morten H. Christiansen and Nick Chater show us where generations of scientists seeking the rules of language got it wrong. Language isn’t about hardwired grammars but about near-total freedom, something like a game of charades, with the only requirement being a desire to understand and be understood. From this new vantage point, Christiansen and Chater find compelling solutions to major mysteries like the origins of languages and how language learning is possible, and to long-running debates such as whether having two words for “blue” changes what we see. In the end, they show that the only real constraint on communication is our imagination.
You can buy the book here.
Further information and additional publications
- Why language is like charades – and could save us from AI
James Dean, Cornell Chronicle, 22 February 2022 - The Spontaneous Origins of Language
Nick Chater and Morten H. Christiansen, The Wall Street Journal, 26 February 2022 - Why people hate or love the sound of certain words
Morten H. Christiansen and Nick Chater, The Conversation, 22 February 2022